Scenery and Singing Keeps Irish Drivers Happy On The Road

One in three Irish drivers claim scenery is their favourite experience behind the wheel; Adele is Ireland's most popular driving diva

Ireland’s stunning scenery is the best thing about driving here, according to motorists.

A survey of more than 1,000 drivers by Its4Women found that one in three (33%) rank Ireland’s stunning views as their favourite thing to experience behind the wheel.

The research of Irish drivers, quizzed motorists on their favourite things about driving, songs they listen to behind the wheel and what their best and worst habits are. The study shows:

Improving roads and the proximity of rural escapes to bigger cities rank highly with motorists

Lower traffic levels than other countries was a contributing factor to enjoyable driving

Adele

Worst habits

Best habits

Its4Women customers also confessed to being aspiring pop stars behind the wheel.

Adele’s hit song Hello was one of the most popular sing-a-long tracks, but many revealed their inner rocker with classics from Queen, AC/DC, Meatloaf and the boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. Chris Rea’s Driving Home For Christmas proved a popular choice as winter draws in and will be the soundtracks to many motorist’s festive season.

Drivers also revealed some of their best and worst habits on the roads with more than one in ten rating themselves high on concentration and observation. A quarter said they excelled at parking, reversing and using their mirrors.

Among the most common bad habits was impatience with other drivers (4%), doing make-up at traffic lights (1%) and eating on the move (4%). Perhaps unsurprisingly though the most frequent type of driver were those who said they had no bad habits at all.

As people spend almost as much time in their car as they do anywhere else many have taken the step of adding a touch of home to their motor with their favourite smells. Tickling the nostrils of Its4Women customers were air fresheners with that luxurious new car smell. Other favourites were new cotton, freshly washed linen and vanilla scents.

Drivers may be sitting in freshly scented cars but they’re stashing more and more away in their boots. The thing motorists had most in their boots was shopping bags (34%). Many were well prepared for all situations though with umbrellas (10%), first aid kits (6%) and spare wheels (12%).

Almost half (43%) of drivers said they had named their first car, with “Betsy” the most common of those names. Meanwhile, one in four named German manufacturer Audi as top of their dream car list. Second favourite was BMW, while muscle cars like the Ford Mustang and Dodge Viper got just a few votes each as practicality reigned over a desire to turn heads.

For more tips and insights, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.